Wednesday, October 29, 2003
NAMI Sees Cure for Schizophrenia Possible in 10 Years
NAMI press release - "The NAMI Policy Research Institute (NPRI) today announced creation of a Task Force on Serious Mental Illness Research, co-chaired by Edward Scolnick, MD, president emeritus of Merck Research Laboratories and NAMI medical director Ken Duckworth, MD, who is the former mental health commissioner for Massachusetts. The Executive Committee of NAMIs Scientific Council, chaired by Jack Gorman, MD, chair of the Department of Psychiatry at Mount Sinai School of Medicine, will help coordinate the effort. 'NAMI takes seriously the statement of Dr.Thomas Insel, director of the National Institute for Mental Health (NIMH) that with the right investments, scientists are within reach of finding a cure for schizophrenia in the next ten years,' said NAMI national executive director Richard C. Birkel, PhD...."
Give mentally ill care, not jail cells (Georgia)
Editorial in the
Atlanta Journal-Constitution, reprinted at the NAMI web site - "Georgia's mental health care delivery system is crumbling. Publicly funded treatment for the mentally ill is at the mercy of fraud, waste, underfunding and lack of community commitment. Many of the services are teetering on the brink of bankruptcy due to budget cuts, mismanagement and, in some cases, outright theft. Two of the 25 community service boards that contract with the state to deliver mental health services have been under criminal investigation for waste and Medicaid fraud. Another has been taken over by the state because of money problems and several others are in financial trouble..."
F.D.A. Intensely Reviews Depression Drugs
New York Times story - "he Food and Drug Administration issued a public health advisory yesterday that makes clear that the agency has grown increasingly skeptical that there is any link between antidepressant use and the risk of suicide in teenagers and children. ... The F.D.A. plans to convene a panel on Feb. 2 to examine the relationship between suicide and antidepressant drug therapy. The panel will be asked to decide if the drugs should be prescribed to teenagers and children, if the drugs' warnings sections should be changed, and what studies should be done to determine if there is a link between antidepressant use and suicide in teenagers and children. To prepare for the meeting, the agency is undertaking an intensive review of pediatric studies of the drugs. ..." [Viewing
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Prescription abuse grows across U.S.
Chicago Tribune story reprinted in the Billings Gazette (Montana) - "The face of drug addiction is changing in America, from cocaine or heroin addicts snorting or shooting up to teenagers and grandmothers popping pills purchased at the local pharmacy or delivered through the mail in plain packages. ... Prescription drug abuse is the fastest-growing type of substance abuse in the United States, a phenomenon fed by aggressive drug marketing, Americans' habit of taking pills for any ailment, physicians' tendency to over-prescribe and the Internet, which is expanding the availability of drugs exponentially."
Mercy Providence to convert exclusively to mental health care (Pennsylvania) Pittsburgh Post-Gazette story - "Pittsburgh Mercy Health System yesterday unveiled plans to convert Mercy Providence Hospital entirely into a mental health institution, eliminating medical, surgical and other services unrelated to psychiatric and substance abuse care. The move comes a year after the shutdown of St. Francis Medical Center, whose best known work was in mental health and substance abuse. At the time, there was some concern about whether all of St. Francis' psychiatric patients would easily make the transition to other sources of care."
